Home for Christmas

Carpeted in snow, adorned with old farm houses, the town of Hampstead, N.H., is a Christmas card come to life. Mayor Giuliani chose to campaign here on Sunday.

It's not easy to politick so close to a holiday. Voters, even in New Hampshire, are reluctant to share their precious moments of family with ambitious seekers of higher office. Perhaps aware of this or just moved by the Currier & Ives setting, Mr. Giuliani spoke about something unusual on the campaign trail, a Christmas song, "I'll Be Home for Christmas."

"It's hard to listen to that song on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day and not get teary-eyed," Mr. Giuliani told a crowd of some 200 jammed into the Bean Towne Coffee House. "I believe it was written during the Second World War. And it was written about, the ultimate end of the song, is that he's not going to be home for Christmas. Because he's far away fighting for liberty, fighting for freedom, fighting for the things that were critical in that period of time."

Mr. Giuliani also paid tribute to today's troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. "I pray for them and hope they all absolutely come home safe and sound and achieve their objective, a safe Iraq that's an ally to us in the war on terror," Mr. Giuliani said.

The mayor's history is correct, according to an account of the song's origin on the St. Lawrence University Web site. Lyricist James Gannon wrote the words to "I'll Be Home for Christmas" in 1943 as American forces fought in North Africa, prepared to invade Italy, and mopped up on Guadalcanal. Bing Crosby sang the song accompanied by the John Scott Trotter Orchestra on October 4. It became the most requested tune at United Service Organization concerts in Europe and the Pacific during World War II.

Mr. Giuliani has been talking a lot about patriotism on the campaign trail. Here the former New York City mayor mirrors John McCain, a former prisoner-of-war, whom Mr. Giuliani himself says he admires. Mr. McCain likes to tell crowds on the trail to approach service men and women and thank them. Mr. Giuliani's words do not come across as calculated. He reflects on the travails America faced during World War II, the Christmas clash where American troops almost faced ruin, the Battle of the Bulge, and the conflagration at Iwo Jima, which ended amid Marines hoisting Old Glory in an image that has come to symbolize sacrifice for country.

New Hampshire demands more than rhetoric. At the coffee house, it was a young girl who asked Mr. Giuliani what he would do to bring the troops home. His answer was "on success…I believe we should win in Iraq." And another child asked him about the kind of country he would like to see if he were president. During the colloquy, an adult voice explained that "their cousin is in Iraq right now."

Mr. Giuliani remained relaxed and asked the children what their cousin's name was — it was Daniel. "You give Daniel my regards and you tell him we realize that his being there is the reason we are safe," he said as he concluded his remarks.

A singer from Astoria, Queens who idolized Bing Crosby, Tony Bennett, appeared on CBS News' "The Early Show" Monday morning. Here's what he sang:

"I'll be home for Christmas
You can plan on me
Please have snow and miseltoe
And presents on the tree

Christmas Eve will find me
Where the lovelight gleams
I'll be home for Christmas
If only in my dreams"

For American GIs in Iraq and Afghanistan and their families, these words carry just as much meaning as they did for those in prior generations. This war may not touch as many people as did World War II, but the pain and longing for those it does affect is just as great. Just ask Daniel's young cousins in New Hampshire about that.

Mr. Gitell (gitell.com) is a contributing editor of The New York Sun.